


listen to my heartbeat (it's beating for you)

by beginsalie



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Hyunjin is Hard of Hearing, Inspired by Into the Woods, M/M, Musicals, Soft Seo Changbin, Strangers to Lovers, Theatre Kids, non beta-ed we die like men, tho if someone wants to beta this while i'm writing i'd appreciate it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27777451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beginsalie/pseuds/beginsalie
Summary: The moment he steps into the Assembly Hall Theatre the uni owns, Hyunjin immediately regrets all his choices made in life, specifically starting by 1) befriending Han Jisung and 2) placing any kind of bet with said devil friend.orHyunjin loses a bet against Jisung and he has to audition for the uni's play.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Felix, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27
Collections: Hyunfest 2020





	listen to my heartbeat (it's beating for you)

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!  
> welcome to my hyunfest fic. i self-prompted so i don't really have anyone to please this time but i really hope everyone likes this one, especially because i'm projecting a lot on my characters since hyunjin is hard of hearing (even though it's not fully implied in the first chapter, but you'll see) on this one and i'm going to try to explain how i feel about it so it's probably going to be a long ride full of emotions.
> 
> let me know how you feel so i can continue writing with a hopeful heart. thank you so much!

The moment he steps into the Assembly Hall Theatre the uni owns, Hyunjin immediately regrets all his choices made in life, specifically starting by 1) befriending Han Jisung and 2) placing any kind of bet with said devil friend. 

You see, Jisung has an amazing power Hyunjin likes to call **_persuasion_ **. No matter how stupid is the stuff Jisung is about to say, Hyunjin is always ready to respond, like a robot obliged to answer or someone who fell into a magical spell. And the worst part of it is that Hyunjin never realizes how dumb Jisung is until he faces the consequences of it. That could explain why the two of them did not get along at all at first, Jisung always teasing Hyunjin because of his pretty looks and Hyunjin always feeling the need to answer back and fight him. 

It could also explain why he is standing in the middle of the uni’s theatre, wondering where people who had joined this year’s auditions should stand, only because Jisung had asked their friends if someone wanted to bet who could eat their ramen spicier and, of course, he was the only one confident enough—or the one Jisung knew would answer, really, to everyone’s amusement—to say yes. 

The loser would have to audition for the uni’s play as a joke, so there Hyunjin is. Him and his whole crew, of course, Jisung being the first one stepping in and asking for him where he should be standing. Hyunjin is grateful because even if Jisung is such a tease, he isn’t a bad friend and he would do anything to help him. After all, he got him into that mess. 

He is a little bit worried about having to separate from his friends but Jisung comes back quickly and reassures him. 

“They said you don’t have to go backstage or anything like that. This isn’t professional, they said you can wait for your turn anywhere you’d like. That’s why everyone is sitting between the public, I’m assuming they’re waiting for their turn too,” he informed, gesturing vaguely at the sitting people.

Hyunjin lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He is glad he can stay there with his friends. He knows he’s there as a joke and nothing more but it wouldn’t be nice if he was alone and the play’s director called his name and he didn’t notice at all. Being with his friends changed that, they could tell him when he was getting called. But he realizes what it means: people can freely watch the auditions, and he isn’t sure if he’s okay with so many people watching him. 

“Hey, Hyunjin. Who do you want from us to come up there with you?,” asks Felix, gently. 

Hyunjin smiles at him. Felix is one of the sweetest people he has ever met and he is always taking care of him. Sometimes—if not always—he feels like the crew doesn’t deserve Felix at all. 

“Uh… Seungmin? Could you? If it’s not a bother.”

He feels Felix deflating a little by his side and he pats his head. He can feel his friend wants to help him but he knows Felix gets nervous when repeating Korean sentences in public and Hyunjin has learnt to be considerate too. 

Seungmin nods at his words and tells him there’s no problem just when someone yells “Hwang Hyunjin” from a distance. As expected, Hyunjin doesn’t notice—even though he can kind of tell because Felix’s eyes open widely and Jisung jumps on his seat—so Seungmin gets up and announces he’s being called, holding his hand and dragging him to the stage. Felix and Jisung start cheering him up and making him smile, even though it’s not a real audition for him and they know it. They must know it’s hard for him to do something like that, because Hyunjin thinks he sees repentance in Jisung's eyes. 

Seungmin takes Hyunjin up the stairs and suddenly they are in the middle of the stage. He is nervous so he fidgets with his hoodie’s sleeves and tries to look like he has been up there before. A conversation is developing in front of him between Seungmin and someone else but he can’t understand it. He tries to at least focus his sight so he can see who Seungmin is talking to and he finally finds him.

It’s Seo Changbin, a student two years older than him—if Hyunjin is not wrong, this should be his last year in college—and, next to him but not speaking at all sits Bang Chan, a really popular guy who was apparently already a Music major (was it Music Theory and Composition?) but was mastering in Ethnomusicology or World Music at the moment. Hyunjin knows all of this because he has heard of Bang Chan—or “Bang Chan the Great— before from Jisung, who is also majoring in Music. In fact, isn’t Seo Changbin a Music major, too?

Seeing Changbin, a really short guy, from his perspective—Hyunjin being up on the stage and him being downstairs sitting where the sound mixers are, with tons of papers around him and seemingly arguing with Seungmin—almost makes Hyunjin forget how nervous he is and he smiles. It’s really comical how Changbin looks even tinier than he already is, gremlin look on his face, and Hyunjin is about to start imagining what is he saying, adding him a tiny voice in his mind—probably something from Shrek but in tiny—when he realizes why is Changbin sitting right there. 

He’s probably the director of the play, the same play he’s about to audition for. Exactly the same one he knows nothing about and he’s auditioning as a joke. So Hyunjin suddenly doesn’t feel like Changbin is adorable and funny anymore. 

Meanwhile, the little guy and Seungmin keep arguing.

“Hello, welcome to the auditions, you already know the rest since you are the one… The ones? Here. Why are there two of you here? It’s always interesting to see duos but I only have one name written in here. Can you tell me what’s the other name so I can look it up?”

“There’s only one name,” Seungmin answers, unbothered.

“Then I’m afraid only one of you can audition,” Changbin frowns.

“That’s okay. I’m not here to audition.”

Changbin looks at him with a confused look on his face. “Then why are you up there? Or are you Hwang Hyunjin? Is this some kind of joke? I don’t like jokes, especially jokes that have to do with my play,” he warns, index finger up pointing accusingly at the two boys.

Seungmin almost feels sorry for him. That isn’t a joke, but Hyunjin’s audition is, and he doesn’t know what Hyunjin has prepared for it. He recovers quickly, after all Kim Seungmin is not one to feel bad for the rest of people.

“It’s not a joke, only one of us will audition,” he argues back.

Changbin’s right foot is tapping the floor impatiently and his annoyance is very clear to everyone. Chan, by his side, is looking at the both of them as if he is watching a tennis match.

“Which one of you is Hwang Hyunjin? The other one, please come down.”

Seungmin ignores his petition and points at his friend with his head. “He is your guy.”

Changbin facepalms himself loudly and Hyunjin jumps at the sudden noise. 

“Look, I don’t have time for this. There are more people that need to audition and I have classes as well, so if you want to stand there, you do you,” the older guy gives up, putting his hands up as a sign of surrender. “Hyunjin, will you need music?”

Seungmin smiles satisfied and repeats Changbin’s question to Hyunjin, to which Hyunjin answers out loud that he won’t need any kind of music, but the question leaves him thinking about it. Why would he need music? Those are auditions, people are supposed to learn the role and recite it. He shrugs it off while Changbin says he can start whenever he wants to and Seungmin tells him so. Hyunjin thanks Seungmin and his friend gives him a thumbs up and leaves him some space, going himself behind the scenes and watching him from there. 

Hyunjin has thought about it to the point of no sleep. He didn’t plan to learn the script at all since he didn’t want to be casted, so what could he do? The answer came to him when he was eating at the canteen with Jisung and Felix and he observed how Jisung made Felix do an English acrostic poem with his name, like the ones they did in Korean but in English to make it easier for the foreigner.

“Why?” Protested Felix. And Felix never protests. 

“Because you love me and I’m bored,” answered Jisung, munching on a fry. 

Felix blushed and Jisung smiled widely, knowing he had won.

“Ji,” started Jisung, extending the “i” to make it sound more adorable, or so was the intention. 

“Jiggles,” said Felix confidently.

“Ohhhhh, I like it, you’re going for it,” Jisung grinned. “Sung,” he completed.

“Sunglasses.”

“That’s not a poem. Lix, those are two random words put together!” Jisung complained.

Felix shrugged his shoulders. “I think it’s good. Your name is hard.”

“No, it’s not!”

Hyunjin intervened to help Felix out. “I agree with Lixie. ‘Jiggles and sunglasses’ sounds like a fanfic name. It’s pretty.”

Jisung glared at him and threw a fry at his face. 

“I don’t need your fanboy side showing right now, Hyunjin. You could have said something beautiful, Lix!” Jisung insisted with a pout.

“Like what?” The called one asked. 

“Ji,” tried Hyunjin. 

“Jisung,” started the quokka boy confidently.

“Sung.”

“Sung a love song for Lix,” ended Jisung, satisfied with himself. 

Hyunjin almost wanted to die on the spot at that, but not more than Felix did. 

“It’s _sang_ , not _sung_ ,” Felix corrected him. 

“It’s poetry, Felix. Just like songs, it doesn’t have to be correct,” Jisung looked about to cry and Hyunjin almost laughed. He was pretty sure Jisung wasn’t used to getting turned down.

Felix giggled. “I’m joking, Sungie. I’m just teasing you because you disliked my poem. Besides, you haven’t ever sung me a song.”

Hyunjin left before his friends made out right in front of his already cold noodles, but he already knew what he was going to do for his audition. 

Another thumbs up from Seungmin and Hyunjin is ready. He is not Jisung, his major is not in the Music category and he definitely needs help when improvising, but he’s not there to pass, and that’s why Hyunjin starts to freestyle. To rapstylying. 

_Stop, all the sounds that judge me_

_It annoys me like noisy neighbors_

_I keep hearing these nagging sounds from some point_

_It’s noisy, I don’t wanna hear no more_

Hyunjin doesn’t know why those words came out of his mouth but they sounded wrong the moment he said them so he shuts up immediately and bows to Changbin and Chan, indicating he has finished. Seungmin rushes to his side with a worried expression all over his face and Hyunjin realizes he is probably making some weird face, so he struggles to smile at his friend reasurengly. He is waiting for Seungmin to tell him Changbin or Chan said it was okay for him to leave but none of them is paying attention to Hyunjin, much less to Seungmin, at the moment. Changbin is leaning into Chan’s direction and he keeps whisper-yelling something to the older one while this one nods with his head. Hyunjin doesn’t remember the rest of the auditions taking this long (not that he watched too many, but still) and something doesn’t sit right with him. He feels uneasy but he knows he has nothing to be afraid of. The chances of him being casted are none. Zero. Literally impossible. Right?

Seo Changbin cleared up his throat before speaking up and getting up and Seungmin gets a little tense next to Hyunjin but he can’t really blame him since it’s been a while since they have been standing there. 

“He’s going to say something,” Seungmin mumbles close to Hyunjin. “I hope it’s related to us being able to leave now,” he tries to joke and Hyunjin tries to laugh but he can’t seem to be able to let any sound come out of his mouth for some reason. 

Changbin doesn’t look as far as he looked before, down there when Hyunjin is standing on the stage and everything and everyone looks so small. Now he looks even bigger than him and Hyunjin has a perfect vision of him, it’s just as if he has him right in front of him and he could touch it, even though he is still a few meters away and down. 

“Congratulations! Your rap was great and I think you would be very fitting for the witch’s role since her song is practically a rap, but I’m sure you already know that since it looks like you auditioned for it,” he smiles big. “I’m not sure why you didn't perform Magic Beans but I personally think it’s pretty cool that you freestyled. Chan and I would love to help you to improve your rap and to make your role the best! So welcome to the Into the Woods 2021 Crew!”

Hyunjin can hear Seungmin repeating everything Changbin said to him and he doesn’t have the heart or the strength to tell him that he has read Changbin’s lips and he knows what he said. He is also able to catch some glimpses of the rest of the conversation Changbin and Seungmin are having—even though he is not feeling well he still has his friend next to him so he is aware they are talking about something related to photography. Realization starts hitting him and he feels sweat running down his spine. 

Into the Woods? Seo Changbin? Bang Chan the Great? _Rapping?_

And most importantly, how is he going to get on and be able to stand on a stage when he is not even able to listen to music properly? How is he going to participate in a musical? How is he going to rap?  
He feels sick so he raises his arm to reach Seungmin but before he can call his name darkness greets him. 

Damn Han Jisung.


End file.
